Chaos In New York

The full 24 track live show from Bonds International Casino, New York on 4th June, 1981. The Outro is Willy Williams' Armagideon Time (though this is not a proper "outro". It is just the track added to the end, not what was played as the band left the stage).

Track listing

CD1:

London Calling

Safe European Home

The Leader

Train In Vain

(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais

This Is Radio Clash

Corner Soul

The Guns Of Brixton

The Call Up

Bankrobber

Complete Control

Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)

Ivan Meets G.I. Joe

CD2:

Charlie Don't Surf

The Magnificent Seven

Broadway

Somebody Got Murdered

Police & Thieves

Clampdown

One More Time

Brand New Cadillac

The Street Parade

Janie Jones

Washington Bullets / Outro - Armagideon Time

Review

Pirate Radio Numero Uno are doing what CBS should have done - that is, releasing all this excellent Clash material in superb professional artwork. This is a must item to have. I received this show from Alan, and I highly recommend you buy a copy for yourself. It's the full unedited show from the 4th of June at Bonds, four of the songs from this having made official releases and the quality of the sound is on par with those releases.

The show is blistering from start to finish. Excellent performances of the songs, especially London Calling and The Magnificent Seven. Ivan Meets G.I. Joe is particularly faithful to the studio version as well and you'll notice the drumming becomes a tad weaker as Topper diverts his efforts to singing and remembering the lyrics! The Guns Of Brixton is a truly excellent version. Police & Thieves deserves a mention - there's a bit of a pause before it kicks in "Yeah this is Police & Thieves" - and Charlie Don't Surf is one of the best live versions. The band seem to struggle a bit performing Broadway, but a great version can be found on the London Lyceum 1981 show. In total there are eleven tracks from Sandinista!, which is nearly half the set, and what with the addition of Radio Clash - again perhaps the best live performance of this song - it leaves little room for older material. Never fear though, because White Man is in there and is excellent (though there is a slight glitch in the recording 1 minute 38 seconds in) and the traditional near the end track Janie Jones is another excellent performance. Complete Control is the exact same version as that which appeared on the official live album - they also get the date wrong in the inner notes saying it was June 13th. A great performance, one of the best of this great song.

The sound is more refined than it is on the Bonds 1981 CD, but I think not as good. The mix is different, and Mick's backing vocals (not his lead) amongst other things are a lot quieter here than on the Bonds 1981 CD (in fact, barely audible at times). For example, during Mag 7, you can hardly hear him shouting "You Lot" yet on the Bonds 1981 disc it is as loud as Joe's voice. Mick's lead guitar is also a bit quieter, you can tell in The Leader for example. The sound on both these boots is excellent, and it's good they each have a different mix. This one concentrating more on the complexities of the music and suchlike - the guitar is a lot clearer, and the finer percussion instruments are too, whereas the Bonds 1981 one just goes for sheer power and volume. In fact, it would be safe to say this one just has a more relaxed sound to it. It's interesting to listen to both of them at the same time as they are quite different, but the Bonds 1981 CD does have the better sound, if not for any other reason than for Mick's backing vocals.

As well as the full show, the time between each song is also present, for instance when Joe says "We got a new toy behind the kit here" before The Call Up starts. The interference that is present on the Bonds 1981 CD on One More Time and Brand New Cadillac is not here, which is good. Also welcome here is the original version of Armagideon Time by Willy Williams. The Clash's cover is so famous that it is sometimes thought they wrote the song. Overall, a superb package to get hold of, and very highly recommended.

Rated: 9 / 10

Extra

The artwork that this double disc set came in is as good as, if not better, than an officially released album. It's faultless, has informative inner notes with background on the Bonds shows, and even the CDs themselves are presented in the same manner.

The Bondage At Bonds bootleg is almost identical to this release, except Ivan Meets G.I. Joe is merged with Lightning Strikes as track 12, and One More Time is edited. The sound mix is identical. The Armagideon Time outro is unique to this release though.

Train In Vain, The Guns Of Brixton and Complete Control were lifted from this very show for the official live album, and Lightning Strikes made the Clash On Broadway boxset. For more info and some video footage on this show (and the other shows at Bonds that year) see the official Clash documentary 'Westway To The World' on DVD.